Tuesday, February 3, 2009

House Pics for Taylor

We know that a lot of you want to see pictures of the house that we are buying. But this post is all for Taylor! This is more pictures than most of you want to see, but our favorite Taylor is not living close anymore and so we are posting for him. Tay - we wish you were closer (especially so you could help with our fix-ups) - we miss you!
This is from the front - we sit in the south east corner of the cul-de-sac...
Here is the roof which is in good shape. They did a good patching job (according to the inspector) when some of the shingles blew off.
These are the gutters that have about 1/2 inch of grime in them. This is one reason we wish you were closer! :)

Here is the garage - the side you can't see already has three places installed to hang bikes. I guess we'll have to buy another bike... You also can't see the central-vac which is piled by the door. There is an exit to the back yard from the garage and a sink which you can see the very edge of.
Here is the crawl space above the garage looking from the garage towards the kitchen. The garage ceiling is insulated which is going above and beyond code. Similarly, there is twice as much insulation as required.
This is looking from the island in the kitchen through the dining area with bay window and into the family room which the inspector claims has a wood fireplace and both Oliver and our agent think is a gas log fireplace. Can you come back and tell us what it really is?
This is the master bedroom with a window seat the lift for extra storage. That is also the new carpet which the bank put in - it hasn't been vacuumed yet.
This is the living room upstairs, right off the main entry.
This is the bathroom on the first floor by the bedrooms. There is also a half bath off the kitchen. The toilet is dripping and we need to get a plumber to come and fix a handful of things.
This is the bonus room downstairs that grandpa said can be turned into a walk-out basement. We would put in a kitchenette and extra bathroom so that we could rent out the basement. Grandpa suggested putting the door where the window is and either putting in french doors or one door with windows on both sides.
This is another view of the kitchen. We already bought the appliances and they are all black. The one appliance you can't see is the trash compactor which is on the backside of the island. It is a Kenmore.
This is the laundry room which is right next to the master bedroom. This is the old cabinetry that matches what used to be in all the bathrooms and the kitchen. We are very glad for the upgrade!
This is the downstairs family room and the bonus room that we told you about earlier is through that doorway. To the left is an under the stairs little crawl space for kids. It has a light that you can turn on and off. The storage room and cold storage are also located to the left of this room.
This is the manabloc. It is probably my second favorite part of the house (next to the kitchen).
This is a picture showing some of the missing light bulbs. We probably have to go and buy 25 - 30 light bulbs. Exciting! We also have to go and buy 28 knobs for the kitchen hardware which is missing.
Let us know if you want to see any other pictures - we can send you the home inspection if you want. Love you - teach well today!

Monday, February 2, 2009

Finances...

We had our home inspection today and it passes with a 9.5 out of 10! It just needs some elbow grease, a plumber and a lot of TLC. If you know a good plumber don't hesitate to send me the info.
Then the mechanic called to say he would like $540 to fix my car - that must be the blessing of paying off your car - it is my philosophy that you either pay the bank monthly or the mechanic quarterly...YUCK! The truth is we have the best mechanic and we know that he would not over-charge us nor recommend work that isn't really needed. I would say, when you are driving down the freeway and all your gauges flat line and you can't even get your gas to go and you just decelerate even though you used to be going 75 in the fast lane that you might have to pay for something. Then, less than 5 seconds later everything comes back on, and I'm sailing away...So he can have a slice of our bank account this month too... :(

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Need I Say More...

We are finalizing the purchase of a foreclosure with a kitchen that looks like this! Who cares what the rest of the house looks like? If this was your kitchen you wouldn't care either...


Okay - some of you might, but I don't care because I love the kitchen! We will post more pictures as we go along but we are still waiting to finalize details regarding the inspection, the appraisal, being in a floodplain, the carpet and the bank. I am told that it has been a pretty straight-forward foreclosure and yet it is frustrating and hard to wait all at the same time. Our close date is scheduled for February 28th - but we are shooting for earlier.... We will just have to wait and see.

Note to my magical kitchen: I promise to take good care of you, to fill you with new appliances, to keep you clean, to love you, to make great things that come out of you and to do service because of your functionality. I promise to keep good food storage, make nightly dinners, cook healthy food and love you dearly. I promise to spend a lot of time with you and create family memories with you. I am so glad that you have waited for me this past year. I know a year with no family, just sitting empty, must have been very hard. I am sorry that you had to endure so many hands opening your cabinets, pulling on your doors and feeling violated. I am sorry your hardwear was stolen and that people broke their nails trying to peek inside your appliance garage. Please know this abuse will stop and that your sad journey is almost through. Thanks for your patience. I am coming. And, most importantly, don't worry, I am bringing the bleach. Good night magical kitchen - I love you already and know that my love will just continue to grow for you and all your magic...

The last detail....

We finished paying for the cruise, we bought our airfare from Salt Lake to Rome and back again, we paid for our apartment in Rome, we finalized our staying arangement for Greece and the only missing puzzle piece was how to get from Athens to Rome. Over the past several weeks airfare from Greece to Italy has been about $375 for both of us to fly one-way on a one-hour flight! LAME!

Just this morning, our wonderful Greek hostess (okay, she's not really Greek but she is in Greece) notified us that they were having a great airfare price. YOU BET THEY WERE! For just $171 we are now both flying from Greece to Italy and I am officially done with the planning. We saved about $200! Thanks Aegean Air and THE BIGGEST THANK YOU TO PATTI!

I am waiting for my passport to come with my last name changed and that is it! There is nothing else to do but wait a very pleasant 99 DAYS! I think that finalizing our home purchase and all that entails (packing, moving, unpacking, paiting, deep cleaning, buying appliances, etc) will keep us plenty busy! But today I am just so darn excited!

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Primary Kids at the Draper Temple Open House

What a fun time! Erica and I convinced our husbands that we should take our primary class to the Draper Temple Open House. When we got the tickets it was last year and we didn't know that we were going to get a new primary class at the start of the year and so we took last year's class and this year's class. Four adults (none of us have kids) and 11 primary kids was a hoot!
It was the most amazing experience to see the temple through the eyes of a child. A couple of our kids had already enjoyed the tour and every time anyone would oooooooooooh and aaaaaaaaaaah they would tell them to just wait - the best was still coming.
The kids LOVED the celestial room - one little guy told me that he could look up and stare at the chandelier for the rest of his life - it's just like heaven he exclaimed. His brother told me that you could see yourself reflect for forever in the next room and he just wanted to come back here so badly.
Their testimonies are the most precious thing and we absolutely love our kids. I really am going to miss them when we move! It has been my favorite calling. Because I didn't grow up in the church serving them in the primary is my first ever experience in the primary! I will always remember them and I have the biggest love for the primary and now an even greater appreciation of the temple.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Cruisin'

I just booked our flight for our cruise which makes it seem very official. We leave in 114 days! A long and short time all at the same time...
We fly from here to JFK and then straight to Rome where we board our boat. We then have shore excursions in Naples, Cairo (Egypt), Port Said (Egypt), Jerusalem (Israel), Nazareth (Israel), Ephesus (Turkey), Patmos (Greece), Santorini (Greece), and Athens (Greece).

We finish our cruise in Greece so we planned to spend 5 extra days in Greece staying with some friends before we fly back to Rome. We have rented an apartment in Rome overlooking the Vatican and will spend 5 more days in Rome before flying home through JFK.
We booked our cruise last June and are so excited to be going! I just can't wait...

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

I always knew it...

I have been trying - really I have - I just have to give in when the migraines come...

http://health.discovery.com/national-body-challenge/articles/whats-so-bad-about-diet-soda.html

This should make me feel better: http://funwithfoodstorage.net/

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

228 and Still Counting

I thought that I would finally update our blog this morning - but it is going to require a lot of work. I went to camera to get some new pics to put up and found that there are more than 228 pics and it is still downloading from my camera. So you have missed quite a bit - but here goes...there are 7 new posts so you may have to come back a couple of times...

Christmas Afternoon in LaCenter...

After Christmas stockings, brunch, movie and nap we made our way through a snow storm up to Washington to continue our festivities. Our family was in the middle of doing gifts when we arrived (Oliver had to shovel us out twice and push - no wonder his back hurts). But we made it safely and enjoyed an afternoon of gifts, good company, good food and games. Here is Kelly and Alec...

Grandpa, Grandma and Aiden...
Deb doing the new slipper dance...
Apples to Apples fun...
All in all, we had a great day!
And when we finally got back to my mom's house around midnight we exchanged gifts with her too. We were up really late laughing and visiting and having a ball. I am glad to be home, because that was a totally different adventure, but we are glad to have celebrated Christmas this year with so many people that we love!

Can you find your bag?

This is what the Portland airport baggage claim looked like when we arrived. There were piles of bags in every direction. There were literally thousands of unclaimed bags piled everywhere. You could barley walk to the carousel to get your own luggage. Luckily we flew on the first day that they didn't cancel any flights and having a direct flight meant no further complications...if only getting home had gone so smoothly...

Chirstmas Morning in Oregon

Due to some crazy weather in the northwest this year - we all spent the night at my mom's best friend's home and got to do stockings first thing in the morning. Do you see my hot pink duct tape in the background?
Here is Benn enjoying the new puzzel that they got from Santa to take the beach.
And here we all are (Oliver's snapping the picture) with our stockings.
And here is Oliver really excited about his new legos...
And then we had the yummiest Christmas brunch ever!

The Youngs Join Us

Thank goodness they are so flexible! Our plans moved and rotated and changed up until the day that we all got together for some dinner and a quick gift exhcange. They got us an electric carving knife which we are really excited about and we got then some great silverware. Kyle received a kid's copy of the Book of Mormon and wasn't all that attentive - so being the good mom that she is - Holly held the book in his line of sight so he could appreciate it more. Happy reading!

Lyon Family Christmas Party

Every year we get together with the Lyon family for Christmas and have a traditional Swedish Dinner. Due to some scheduling complications and last minute changes it wasn't as well attended as usual - but it was still really fun. Here is our patriarch - we sure do love him!
And mom and dad, content to observe the family chaos...
And the newest great-grand-baby...
And Emily contemplating her first year as part of the festivities :) (Okay maybe not the best picture - but we love you all the same.)
And the awesome carolers who knocked on the door. A men's trio, a guitar and a violin - it was great!
For those of you who didn't make it - we hope to see you next year and you were missed!

The Christmas Story in Primary

During sharing time - the last Sunday before Christmas - the kids got to act out the Christmas Story. Our lovely primary president is still at home because she just had a baby and so we took lots of pictures for her to enjoy (I probably should get them to her). Anyway, the kids had a blast and here is a little preview.

This is Sarah explaining how we are going to pick parts (draw names of course) and she is in front of Bethlehem which is made out of some plastic sheet thing which sticks to the wall and can be reused!
Here's Mary and an angel and a shepherd...
And two more shepherds...
And the whole group...

Beky and Lance Get Married

I think their expressions say it all - we are so happy for them and so glad to welcome Lance into our growing family! They are the fourth cousin to get married in the last year and a half and we are loving all the new additions and the new fun! Congratulations we love you!
After the beautiful ceremony we went to Market Street Grill to help set up for their reception. They had a candy buffet...
And, I don't know about you, but this is what some of the men in our family do to help set-up for events like weddings and family parties...SUPERVISE. It is actually pretty impressive that they found themselves a table to supervise from because usually there is quite a bit of hovering... :)
Isn't her dress beautiful?

Friday, December 19, 2008

One of Those Days...

I went to bed early last night after throwing up and not feeling well at all. When I woke up this morning I decided that I would go to work (I am off from Dec 24 - Jan 5 so there are some things to do...) I went to work driving on icy and windy roads with dumb drivers. Then, upon getting there I was feeling really nauseous so I told myself that I just had to make it through my morning meeting. I spoke with Oliver for a few minutes from my cell phone and upon hanging it up it fell into my coke cup and knocked it over so I now have a huge brown spot down the entire right pant leg, my phone was soaked and I had ice all over the floor of my office.

So, I went to my meeting wet, nauseous and cold. 1.5 hours later I wanted to rip my hair out due to total boredom - but I decided instead to join some co-workers for soup & salad at Olive Garden. Well, my cell phone is hopefully there because I can't find it anywhere else and that is the last place I remember having it. So I decided, I'm done, I'm going home! While driving home it started to snow and I almost hit an idiot who slammed on her breaks at the first sighting of slush...

Then, upon getting home I remember that Christmas bonus checks come out this afternoon at work - NOPE my boss isn't going to find me because I am done with this day! Tomorrow should be better....

Friday, December 5, 2008